Otter pushes for road money, but residents gripe about feds, wild sheep
Here in Idaho the legislature has gone into overtime because Governor Otter vetoed 35 appropriation bills over the course of a few days because he wants the legislature to raise gas taxes for road construction projects. They are not complying.
Each month Governor Otter spends a day in an Idaho town or city in his program “Capitol for a Day”. This time he spent the day in Midvale, Idaho and got an ear-full from the rural residents, who overwhelmingly supported him in the election, about his proposed gas tax increase and his veto of the bighorn sheep killing bill SB1175.
This is an interesting look at the conflicting values of rural and urban values.
Midvale residents say Gov. Otter has abandoned rural Idaho
DAN POPKEY, Idaho Statesman
Comments
The comment by wildbill in the blog section, while a little rough, is one of the most acurate statements I’ve ever seen on a Statesmans blog.
Speaking of rural Idaho Legislatures, this op-ed in the Boise Weekly is very good.
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A323075
Wow, I love the comment “I have to drive 75 miles for grocery’s” Well, go once a month instead of every week. learn to live with the wild life. And young people there can now go to college or school trades and maybe make a better life for themselves in the green industry or what ever. Ranching is not the only thing in life the folks there can do. And maybe it is time for them to re-think the gas issues, hybrids are available in those states too!!! I say finally, maybe us Greenies are getting ahead of the game, instead of left way behind. Ranchers get used to it!!!!! YEAH!!!!
Otter just played into this mob mentality by inciting them with his states’ rights rhetoric. And I don’t understand why the public is supposed to subsidize these people who’ve made their own choices, such as living 75 miles from a grocery store or grazing domestic sheep on federal land.
Also lost in this article is how few ranchers we’re talking about, just 4 sheep producers hold permits on the Payette where the bighorn conflicts have arisen. Only 2 of these–R. Shirts and Soulens live in Washington Co, where this mob scene took place.
Also worth noting is that the Soulen family owns over 50,000 acres of private deeded land, which makes them one of the biggest landowners in the state. I would think most folks could figure out a way to make a living off that much private land without having to leech off the public lands.
Since this bunch seems determined to stick to the 19th century, let me suggest a few areas to explore that could be done on your own land: agricultural tourism (having folks come to your farm to experience the ag lifestyle) , wildlife tours, organic lamb shipped to markets like SF, Seattle, value added wool products produced in the local community, native seeds production, etc.
April Clauson Says:
April 29, 2009 at 5:19 PM
“Wow, I love the comment “I have to drive 75 miles for grocery’s” Well, go once a month instead of every week. learn to live with the wild life. And young people there can now go to college or school trades and maybe make a better life for themselves in the green industry or what ever. Ranching is not the only thing in life the folks there can do. And maybe it is time for them to re-think the gas issues, hybrids are available in those states too!!! I say finally, maybe us Greenies are getting ahead of the game, instead of left way behind. Ranchers get used to it!!!!! YEAH!!!!”
How much food lasts a month? The Green movement is a scam, REALLY look and research the so called GREEN products, you might be surprised as to what gets the GREEN certification! Yeah, there are a lot of Hybrids that are going to pull farm equipment or Recreational vehicles ect! Are you going to spend a shitload of money for a hybrid to save a little gas to drive to the grocery store? Get real and into reality!
Craig,
Have you ever heard of a freezer?
“The Green movement is a scam, REALLY look and research the so called GREEN products, you might be surprised as to what gets the GREEN certification.”
Certainly, the label “Green” is overused. However, that doesn’t mean that the “Green movement is a scam.” Rather, it simply means some scammers have had good luck jumping on the Green bandwagon. That problem can easily be fixed with a bit of oversight, wouldn’t you think? 😉
[and sarcastically] “Yeah, there are a lot of Hybrids that are going to pull farm equipment or Recreational vehicles ect!”
I don’t think many of the people buying Hybrids are using them to pull RVs or farm equipment. Still, there is nothing wrong with using a Hybrid for the task, assuming the model has adequate horsepower (which some do). You might change your tune when the economy recovers and gas is back up around $4-5 / gallon. Then again, maybe not.
i would rather have a recovered vibrant economy with 4 buck gas than a crumbled ecomony and 2 buck gas any day.
Kim,
For once, we agree.